


Vivid

by WinterFaerie



Series: A Realm Reborn: Shion's beginning. [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Character Death In Dream, F/M, Horror, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Psychological Trauma, Unfortunate Implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26434612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterFaerie/pseuds/WinterFaerie
Summary: While trying to process all the recent events, Shion has a nightmare.
Series: A Realm Reborn: Shion's beginning. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1917160
Kudos: 5





	Vivid

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of all over the place. Since it is a nightmare sequence the scene is constantly changing.

It was cold. The kind of cold that made your bones ache and made every nerve sing with searing heat How could the cold around her burn so much? Shion opened her eyes and found herself gazing into a deep, midnight blue abyss. Upon trying to move, she found that her limbs were heavy, slow and hindered by the tension of water. She tilted her head up, gazing up at the glittering light above. Her lips parted and bubbles escaped, racing her towards the surface when she made the horrifying realization that she was underwater. Shion considered herself a great swimmer, having grown up near the sea she was used to fighting the tides and diving deep for shells which she used to collect but this body of water that she found herself in was different. 

Thick. 

A disgustingly and heart startlingly familiar chemicalbadhorrible taste filled her mouth. She pushed herself through the water with more urgency but before she could reach out and break the surface of the water with the tips of her fingers, she was yanked back down. She looked below and saw the massive white eyes and large mouth of the slime creature that nearly killed her during the Trial by Wind. Silently a scream billowed out from her mouth in an eruption of bubbling air, rushing up towards the light that was so tantalizingly close but agonizingly out of reach. The beast pulled Shion into its mouth. 

Blink.

Shion’s knees hit something solid with a painful ‘crack!’ - as if she’d just been dropped on a stone slab from a height unmeasured. The cry slipped from her lips startled her with its clear sound, no longer muted by water. A sharp breath was taken in through her feet and she stood up with scrapes on her legs. All around her was that same dark, blue, nothingness stretching on for malms only when she looked up she saw no more glittering light. For a moment, she assumed she’d gone completely blind but as she raised her hand before her eyes to check she was surprised to see it. A dim glow radiated from her form and she couldn’t help but examine herself more thoroughly just to make sure she was neither incorporeal nor pellucid. 

“Am I… going to die?” 

Shion jumped at the echoed sound of another’s voice. When she turned she saw Sylphie, just as anxious and shameful as she had been after the Antelope Stag incident. Sylphie had screamed so loud at Brother E-Sumi-Yan that even Shion had been surprised, put off by her ignorant and utterly stubborn stance on something so crucial in their studies. It was something so vital. Now as the young spell caster stood before Shion with her head hung and her shoulders heavy and trembling with a mix of shame and fear. She felt despair. Would Sylphie die? That would be such a heavy price for one to pay just for using magic incorrectly. She was just a child.

Suddenly, Shion was standing where Sylphie had been and in front of her was a towering figure that made her blood run cold. A dark wall barred her from fragments of the memory. Her mind refused the name all together but she could still SEE him in front of her and feel the way his icy fingers playing along her jaw before they paused and moved to pry her mouth open. Shadow encompassed eyes stared down at her coldly, a cruel smile curving his pale lips. She could taste his leather glove and soon iron as well as her teeth clamped down on his fingers, tearing through and sinking into flesh only stopping when he brought a boot to her chest and kicked her away like an misbehaving animal. She rolled against the ground, her lungs aching as she wheezed and gasped for air. Soon she was on her side, hands pressing into the floor as she half lifted herself. Too soon, he was hovering over her again.

Blood from his injury was smeared over Shion’s face as he grabbed her jaw in a less than kind fashion, her eyes burned like the blue of a flame and she refused to break eye contact. Rage simmered just under the surface of her stubborn composure. She felt vulnerable. His grip tightened. 

“ғɪᴇʀᴄᴇ, ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴄᴏʀɴᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴɪᴍᴀʟ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɴᴀᴜɢʜᴛ ᴇʟsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ… ɪ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜɪs. ᴅᴇғʏ ᴍᴇ—“ 

That voice snuck in and twisted around into her ears with frightening familiarity. Thunder roared as lightning danced across the sky. 

Before she knew it, she was alone again but she could no longer breathe. She was choking. The pulsing warmth in her throat brought tears to her eyes. Shion’s hands lifted to her neck as she doubled over, retching and coughing violently, black and purple ooze splattering against her boots. With another boom of thunder, the darkness around her burst and shattered like glass giving way to a sky glittering with starlight. In the little light afforded to her, she made a realization that caused her stomach to turn again. She was staring at the slime beast again, its eyes rolling in the ooze she just purged. It bubbled and gurgled one last time on the forest floor before vanishing in plumes of purple and black. Her throat hurt and she was horrified. Shion touched her neck and flinched at how cold her fingertips felt. 

A new urgency washed through as if she'd just remembered something important her. She lifted her head as the Black Shroud erupted from the ground and blossomed all around her.

“SYLPHIE! Sylphie where are you?!” Shion cried, trying to spot any sign of the other conjurer within the thick brush around her. Her body began to shiver almost violently as she forced herself back to her feet. With a clumsy start, her staggering turned into a jog, that jog turning into a sprint. Frantic. Urgent. 

The trees were stretching wide and reaching imposing heights with wooden groans to convey their growing pains. They curled up around the dimly lit path and created a tunnel that twisted and distorted before her that farther and faster she ran. The tunnel felt endless but hope fueled her as she noticed a light radiating in the distance. 

Finally free from the warped tunnel, her next step sent her tumbling into a free fall. All around her glowing blue and white crystals streaked the dark open sky. The air rushing past her burned her eyes and she shielded her face with her arms. She heard the impact of her body against something solid before she felt it. The heavy thump and crack of bone. Her eyes slowly began to open, looking at her outstretched hand as her fingers curled in towards her palm. 

Is it true that when you die in a dream, you die in real life? 

Shion woke moments later with a start, wide eyes fixed to the ceiling as she gasped for air. She turned her head. The monoa mask rested on the table next to her bed, waiting. It was almost time for Greenbliss.


End file.
